Figures released recently by the NSO showed that there was a total of 2,328 reported accidents in 2020. However, in the last six months of 2020, the number of work-related injuries stood at 1,220 compared to the 1,679 reported in 2019.
“It is encouraging to see that there were less accidents than the previous year, but injuries and fatalities at work are bound to happen and this is why employers and employees together, need to ensure that health and safety at work becomes a culture not a just a formality,” said Franco Azzopardi, CEO of Express Trailers.
The company recently hosted the first session of a recently introduced health and safety training course covering the topics of Working at Heights and Safe Operation of Man Lifts & Scissor Lifts for a group of twenty employees from its fleet maintenance and domestic operations teams.
“Our people who are responsible for the fleet’s maintenance are constantly busy inspecting and servicing our trucks and trailers, whose sizes and heights make access difficult and somewhat dangerous. This prompted Express Group to invest in a number of scissor lifts & man lifts which are very helpful at improving the team’s accessibility to, otherwise, inaccessible areas, such as trailer roofs,” explains Emanuel Vella who coordinated the training session.
“Likewise, our domestic operations team is frequently involved in lifting operations that require working at substantial heights, such as on roofs with limited fall protection.”
The training was not simply theoretic, but also involved physical demonstrations held on site at Express Trailers’ yard by a professional health and safety instructor. Employees learned how to identify risks better and how to avoid, control and protect themselves against such risks and were introduced to different personal protective equipment that is available, and how these should be used effectively. Another new training program covered Principles of Safe Slinging particularly intended for employees that are involved in relatively complex lifting operations.
“Whilst most employees could already demonstrate a great level of competence in the subject, they were still very eager to further their understanding on selecting the correct lifting equipment, identifying load capacity of lifting equipment, learning how to store and care for lifting equipment, and knowing how to identify defects in such equipment that render them unsuitable for service.”
“Guaranteeing a safe working place also comes from communicating with our people to understand where we might be lacking and where we could be improving our processes. This course was an ideal opportunity for them to come forward with a number of suggestions which we shall now look into how best to implement,” concluded Emanuel Vella.
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